Biochar has emerged as a promising carrier for microbial inoculants, yet its capacity to enhance inoculant persistence while preserving native soil microbial communities remains insufficiently documented. This study evaluated an olive-pomace-derived biochar as a carrier for Bacillus velezensis and Trichoderma virens in a Mediterranean Cambisol under controlled conditions. Biochar supported high initial microbial loadings (>108 CFU or spores g−1 biochar), strong short-term viability (76–88%), and clear colonization of pore surfaces as observed by scanning electron microscopy. Following a 30-day pot incubation, biochar-based inoculation enhanced microbial persistence compared with direct soil application, maintaining recoverable inoculant populations close to or above initial levels. Findings revealed that biochar maintained community-level structural and functional patterns at the resolution detectable by fingerprinting and metabolic profiling approaches. These results suggest that biochar functioned primarily as a physical carrier, providing protected microsites that may have contributed to the stabilization of introduced microorganisms while maintaining overall soil functional diversity. Our findings demonstrate that olive-pomace biochar can be valorized as an effective microbial carrier, suited to Mediterranean soils where early inoculant establishment is often constrained. Future research should assess the durability of these mechanisms under field conditions to determine their long-term relevance for soil biological functioning and restoration.
The Island Mass Effect (IME) in tropical regions remains understudied, despite its potential to fertilize oligotrophic oceanic gyres and impact on higher trophic levels. Guadeloupe provides an ideal case study of IME due to its diverse nutrient sources, dual exposure to the Caribbean Sea on the western coast and Atlantic Ocean on the eastern coast, and seasonality. Two field campaigns (June 2023, early wet season; January 2024, dry season) assessed macro- and micro-nutrient sources including dissolved iron (DFe) and nitrate (NO3 -) and their effects on phytoplankton biomass and composition. Key Fe sources included river outflows influenced by hydrothermalism, weathering, sediment resuspension on the Atlantic shelf, and Saharan dust deposition, with contributions varying seasonally and spatially. Nitrate inputs were mainly linked to anthropogenic river influence, with additional Sargassum contributions in June. On the Atlantic coast, seasonal shifts in DFe and NO3 - fluxes, associated with river inputs in the dry season and dust and Sargassum in the wet season, did not lead to major changes in phytoplankton assemblages. Diatoms dominated the continental shelf, where NO3 - and DFe were higher. Marked seasonal changes in phytoplankton occurred only on the Caribbean coast, associated with increased DFe and localized diatom blooms near river outflows in June, although cyanobacteria generally remained the dominant group on this coast. Overall, two distinct IMEs were identified, shaped by contrasting nutrient regimes on each coast. However, offshore nutrient export was minimal and cyanobacteria predominated in offshore oligotrophic waters. These findings enhanced our understanding of IME variability and island-driven nutrient cycling in tropical systems.
The 11th Cardiovascular Outcome Trial (CVOT) Summit: Congress on Cardiovascular, Kidney, and Metabolic Outcomes was held virtually on November 20-21, 2025. The Summit provided a multidisciplinary forum to review and discuss recent outcome trials investigating emerging pharmacological therapies targeting diseases of the cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic (CKM) continuum. This report highlights the unique developments of 2025 discussed during the Summit, including the first head-to-head CVOT (SURPASS-CVOT), the growing evidence base for combination therapies across the disease spectrum, new insights into the inflammatory component of the CKM syndrome, and relevant policy developments. The first part of this report summarizes pioneering clinical trials addressing combination therapy with finerenone and empagliflozin (CONFIDENCE), the oral glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists orforglipron (ATTAIN-1), and the aldosterone synthase inhibitor (ASI) baxdrostat (BaxHTN). The second part presents recent guideline and policy developments discussed by experts in endocrinology, diabetology, cardiology, nephrology, hepatology, and general practice. In addition, advances in medical technology, particularly in continuous glucose and ketone monitoring, are highlighted, as well as emerging therapies for diseases of the CKM continuum. These include pharmacological agents for a broad spectrum of metabolic disorders such as metabolic liver disease and type 1 Diabetes (T1D) alongside emphasis on the importance of early detection and innovative treatment strategies. The 12th Cardiovascular Outcome Trial Summit will be held virtually on 19-20 November 2026 (http://www.cvot.org).
Auroral kilometric radiation (AKR) provides a sensitive probe of magnetospheric dynamics during substorms. We analyze an extended data set of AKR bursts observed by the WIND spacecraft to investigate how the frequency structure of AKR responds to substorm onset and evolution. A new adaptive method is introduced to identify low and high frequency extensions (LFEs and HFEs) of AKR by defining dynamic frequency thresholds for each substorm individually. Using substorm onset lists derived from both auroral imagery and ground-based magnetometers, we examine how occurrence rates and integrated power contributions of LFEs and HFEs depend on substorm epoch and magnetic local time (MLT). LFEs and HFEs are most frequently observed near the average substorm onset location (approximate to 23 hr MLT) and within minutes of substorm onset. LFEs show the clearest enhancement, contributing a greater fraction of the total AKR power post-onset and in the pre-midnight sector, suggesting that they represent a distinct substorm-driven component of AKR. In contrast, HFEs show weaker and less systematic responses, with variability consistent with the main AKR band, suggesting that HFEs are an extension of the main band AKR rather than a separate population. Finally, substorm onset times derived from auroral imagery yield a sharper AKR response than those from ground magnetometer lists, underscoring the stronger physical link between aurora and AKR and highlighting limitations of ground magnetometer-based onset identification. These results demonstrate that frequency extensions of AKR can be used to improve substorm identification.
For two real bases q(0),q(1)>1, a binary sequence i(1)i(2)& ctdot;is an element of{0,1}(infinity) is the (q(0),q(1))-expansion of the number pi(q0,q1)( i(1)i(2)& ctdot;)=& sum;(infinity)(k=1)i(k)/q(i1)& ctdot;q(ik). Let Uq(0),q(1 )be the set of all real numbers having a unique (q(0),q(1))-expansion. When the bases are equal, that is, q(0)=q(1)=q, Allaart and Kong (2019) established the continuity in q of the Hausdorff dimension of the univoque set U-q,U-q, building on the work of Komornik, Kong, and Li. We derive explicit formulas for the Hausdorff dimension of Uq(0),q(1 )and the entropy of the underlying subshift for arbitrary q(0),q1>1, and prove the continuity of these quantities as functions of (q(0),q(1)). Our results also concern general dynamical systems described by binary shifts with a hole, including, in particular, the doubling map with a hole and (linear) Lorenz maps.
